Certain vehicles today utilize techniques for determining characteristics of a road on which the vehicle is travelling, such as a coefficient of friction for the road. Often such determinations are made during a braking or stability event. However, such techniques may not always be optimal in all situations. For example, in certain situations determinations of road characteristics may be desirable when a braking or stability event may not have occurred, for example in setting desired distances between vehicles in cruise control or non-cruise control driving.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved methods and systems for estimating characteristics of surfaces of roads for vehicles. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will be apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.